


even if we can't find heaven (I'll walk through hell with you)

by vindice



Series: I'm half doomed and you're semi-sweet [8]
Category: Katekyou Hitman Reborn!, Yu-Gi-Oh!
Genre: Devotion, Dimension Travel, Explicit Language, Gender-Neutral Pronouns, M/M, Negotiations, back at it again with the khr crossovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-21
Updated: 2019-10-21
Packaged: 2020-12-27 11:55:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,210
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21118382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vindice/pseuds/vindice
Summary: This, they find, is a strange change. But not unwelcome.





	even if we can't find heaven (I'll walk through hell with you)

**Author's Note:**

> This is a gift for Kura, but as always it’s in yadonushi’s POV because all I know is how to write Ryou with what could arguably be called unhealthy levels of devotion.
> 
> Happy early birthday, my love!
> 
> (It’s kind of a prequel of [this](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15869775), but not quite.)

_ What do you think? _ Ryou asks his partner. The man— _ the spirit, the being— whatever shall they call him?— _in the kimono, Kawahira, looks at them with an impassive expression.

_ Well, it makes… sense_, Bakura agrees reluctantly, tone somewhere between thoughtful and grumpy. He, too, is waiting for the other shoe to drop.

_ We _ are _ outsiders here_, Ryou points out. _ We don’t have any idea how this place works. For all we know, we might have landed ourselves in some dystopian, apocalyptic world. _

Ryou can feel his other self roll his eyes, a groan echoing throughout their mindscape. He tries his best to hold back an amused grin, if only so he won’t offend the man in front of them. They’re dealing with possible hostile forces here, Ryou would like to make it past the first negotiations, thanks.

_ You and your theories, _ Bakura says back, truly unimpressed. Ryou allows himself a fleeting, mental grin. _ Just… It’s up to you. It’s not like we can do much stranded in the middle of nowhere. _

He hates how weary his other sounds, so suddenly. Stone cold rage settles in his veins, but he keeps it under wraps. It helps that Bakura’s now free, calm presence is there at the back of his mind, fitting and not missing, not buried deep underground.

_ That’s true, _ Ryou agrees.

_ He’s waiting for us to answer, _ Bakura points, and there’s a tentatively gentle prod on their mental link. Almost hesitant, as if afraid it won’t be welcomed, but stubborn in its nature. A reminder that he’s not alone.

Ryou hums, letting Bakura’s soothing presence wash over him. He tilts his head a little, hands laying lax at his sides. It may be a foolish move on their part to be this careless, they both know, but there’s nothing they could do anyway. If Kawahira wanted to attack them, he’d have done so the moment he found them unconscious in the middle of this empty, never ending darkness. He wouldn’t be waiting for them to answer.

“So I can stay here, as long as I don’t interfere?” Ryou repeats carefully.

“Yes.”

“And, interfere in what, exactly?” He can’t refrain from asking. It’s an innocent question, would be stranger if they didn’t ask it, and Bakura’s warmth settles over their sternum, right alongside their curiosity. 

Kawahira hums, noncommittal. Ryou meets his gaze head on. There is something there, even when the man in the kimono stares at them blankly, that feels calculating.

It does not matter. 

They’ve buried their people, mourned their ghosts. They have gouged their own eyes and died multiple times. They are not scared; what may happen will happen, and there is nothing they can do to avoid it.

(Unless it’s about Bakura. Ryou will go to the ends of the cosmos for him, do the unimaginable and accomplish. He would stare the Gods down and fight them if it means he gets to keep him.)

(He has done it before. He will do it again, as many times as he needs to.)

“The balance,” he tells them, or tells him, because Ryou is confident he doesn’t know there’s someone else inside him. He might suspect, for Ryou knows this person is nowhere near an idiot, that there is something wrong about him other than the obvious. But they will burn that bridge when they get there. “You are an inconsistency. If I let you in, you will be an irregularity.

“You do not belong in this timeline, nor in this dimension at all, as I have already checked for any other self of yours. With you here, everything around you is volatile at best if you decide to stay.

“As soon as I let you set foot in my dimension, realities will be rewritten because of your presence. Some might have already started as we speak, from the mere knowledge of your existence in the bridge between dimensions. 

“I cannot allow you to tip the balance of this world, I hope you understand.” It’s not a question, of that they’re sure, but they do understand. 

Really, this is going a lot smoother than it could have gone, so they have no problem agreeing with his words.

“I will assume you’d like to give me something to avoid said calamity,” Ryou asks, inclining his head both thoughtful and respectfully, pulse steady. It’s only practical, after all.

For the first time since they started talking, Kawahira’s expression shifts. It’s not quite a smile, but his lips quirk up the slightest bit, and they have the feeling they have passed some kind of test.

* * *

They’re in their shared soulroom, sitting cross-legged one in front of the other. Bakura cleans their doll head collection while he paints their nails. His are a pretty shade of acid green, and Ryou’s match Kura’s eyes.

“If we’re gonna be stuck in this world, I get to choose our name this time,” Bakura says suddenly.

Ryou rolls his eyes fondly. He stretches his hand in front of him to inspect his nails and nods satisfied with the result. His eyes fall to the ring on his middle finger, outlining its horned shape with his gaze. It’s sharp, the pointed end, and it’s enthralling because of that. It calls to them, like it belongs there, in their finger, with them. 

(It reminds Ryou of the Millennium Ring, but this time an _ actual _ ring. The best part is that it is not the outcome of their people’s genocide— _ of innocents being slaughtered, a forced sacrifice,— _ since it belongs to this dimension in specific, and they did not exist there.)

Ryou blinks out of his reverie, “What’s it gonna be then, sweetcheeks?” 

Bakura looks up sharply from where he, too, has been staring at their new asset, triumph shining in his eyes. 

How dare he look so adorable?

“We’re gonna be Torikabuto now.”

“Really.” Ryou deadpans, but there’s an amused quirk of lips. “Wolfsbane?”

“Why not? It’s a formidable name,” his other self defends, lifting a condescending eyebrow, “I’ll have you know, that’s a silent, deadly plant Egyptians tested on their enemies.”

“I didn’t say anything,” he can’t fight the small chuckle that leaves him. 

Bakura scowls. He opens his mouth, no doubt about to pick up a fight, then thinks better of it and stops himself as if it is a lost cause. 

Instead he says, “What are we gonna do now?”

“Hm? What do you mean?”

“Here. Now,” Bakura explains. He inclines his head and looks him in the eye, doll head long forgotten in his hand. “I don’t think we’re in Domino anymore. I’m not sure it even exists.”

He purses his lips. “I know. I can’t feel it, either,” Ryou confesses.

Bakura grimaces. Then it’s gone, and his expression is set on determination. He says, “Well, then. We just need a plan. We’re good at those.”

Ryou can’t help but mirror his other’s grin with a smile of his own. 

“That we are,” he says, and his eyes are soft and his heart feels light, because at least he’s not alone at this and he accomplished his wish, has Bakura with him.

_ Just us_, he thinks, and Bakura’s eyes shine knowingly. _ The way it’s always been. _

_ The two of us against the world. _

**Author's Note:**

> As you can see, in this, Ryou and Bakura have embraced the gender-neutral/plural pronouns. 
> 
> Ryou grew up knowing there was someone else inside his head, so he got used to everything that hinted at “we” when referring to his person most of the time, though for now they keep it to themselves given the situation.


End file.
